


A Suitcase Full of Flowers

by LoonyFish



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 02:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1711061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyFish/pseuds/LoonyFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the light of day, Merlin began to realise that something was completely off with this suitcase when he picked it up. It was ten times heavier that it should have been if full of his own crap, and for another thing it was what his mother would describe as charcoal grey whilst his little bag was definitely more of a sort of, well, brown colour. </p><p>In which Merlin oh so cleverly picks up the wrong suitcase and disaster ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Suitcase Full of Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what happened here. It was meant to just be a quick "picked up the wrong luggage au" to get me writing again but turned into something much longer and weirder than I was expecting!  
> This has not been BETAed so all mistakes are entirely my own :)  
> Finally got round to basically rewriting the end of this fic! I'm much happier with it now and I hope you like the changes!

It was beginning to feel like a rather long and lonely flight home from Austria, where Merlin had been for a week to visit his mother. He usually found the whole thing alright, there was something to look forward to at both ends of the journey and the flight wasn’t even that long, it just felt a bit of a drag this time round.

He snorted with laughter, and the lady in the seat next to him turned and gave him a _look_ he knew all too well. ‘A bit of a drag’ he thought, trying again not to laugh as images came to him of the Drag Queen he had accidentally taken Hunith to see whilst he was over there. To be honest the whole variety show had been completely not what he had expected: they thought things could not get any weirder after the woman juggling umbrellas, but then came a strip tease, then some mid-air pole dancers and then the Drag Queen who sung Whitney Houston in heels Merlin was sure could kill a someone if some force was applied. All in all it had been a rather strange night out – _worth it, though_ , Merlin thought, even if his mother still hadn’t forgiven him.

But as the plane soared to 50 000 feet there was nothing more he could do than slip on his headphones, lie back and dream of home. So he did.

It was three hours later when a flight attendant gently nudged at his shoulder and said politely,

“Sir, the flight has now landed and it appears the lady next to you didn’t think to wake you. Everyone else has already left the plane and unless you want to fly to…” she checked her list, “Sweden, you might want to follow them.”

“Oh God.” Merlin groaned as he stretched out, trying to stand then remembering the pesky seatbelt the airline companies made them wear. It took his sleep fuddled brain nearly half a minute to get the belt undone, by which time he was beetroot red and stammering apologies left right and centre.

 The flight attendant merely smiled and assured him it happens “all the time” but Merlin darted out before the attendant made him feel even worse.

Snatching his bag from the overhead locker (trying not to wince as he actually dropped it on his head in a hope to cover up his foolishness), he pretty much legged it from the plane and down towards immigration control. Apparently he had been asleep for long enough for every single person off his flight to have passed through the checks and for all but two of the workers to have left by the time he reached there. He handed his passport over to the guy, avoiding eye contact because _god this was embarrassing_.

He then had to run through the seemingly endless maze of corridors at Gatwick North Terminal so he could reach baggage reclaim before the funny little carousel thing stopped rotating and his bag was gobbled up by the system probably never to be seen again.

It was a miracle, he decided, that the thing was still going round and round and round in its mesmerising fashion when he got there and there appeared to be only one suitcase on it. _Must be mine then_ he thought as he picked it up and headed out towards the taxi pickup, not actually stopping to think that it was not the suitcase he remembered putting onto the plane.

The taxi his mum had booked for him was waiting outside. Merlin had insisted that he could just get a train, he didn’t need a taxi, but after a long argument in which Hunith had said he wouldn’t have the time or energy to get public transport when he landed let alone how much it would cost for someone who ran their own business (Merlin had chosen to ignore the muttered comment from his new stepfather that a flower shop didn’t even count as an actual business), Merlin gave in and allowed Hunith to get him a taxi home.

Unsurprisingly, the taxi driver was rather pissed off at how long it had taken Merlin to get off the aircraft, even though he tried not to show it with the trademark set of questions all taxi drivers have to ask (Merlin reckoned there was some kind of manual they had to learn and recite, “Where have you come from?” “How was the weather?” it was an endless cycle).

Again Merlin managed to drift off to sleep; missing all the familiar sights he usually loved to see has he headed home.

It was over an hour’s drive from Gatwick to his little village, Camelot, on the boarders of Surrey, and he was quite pleased that he was able to sleep for so long in a car – he was normally rubbish at sleeping in any kind of vehicle. He knew what it was. His new stepfather was a complete twat who appeared to hate Merlin for no apparent reason (though Merlin guessed it was because Hunith loved Merlin more than she loved him and the fact that Merlin was so much like his father had been so was a constant reminder to Hunith of what her life had been) and spending a week trying to be polite to the guy had been physically draining.

He stumbled out of the taxi as it pulled into the end of the cobbled pedestrian street his little shop was on. The driver drove off laughing at him as he fell over one of the cobblestones and face-planted the floor, which was nothing new really. He was just glad it was dark and no one (he hoped) was watching.

His bed was a welcome sight when he finally made it there, he still felt slightly disorientated and had the feeling that something was just wrong, but he was out cold before he had time to dwell on it.

Morning greeted him with a smile. English sun was just so much different to Austrian sunshine. In England the sun was like a breath of fresh air, that welcomed spring and all things happy; in Austria, it was much warmer and golden, making the whole place feel like they were back in the roaring 20s where it was all tea parties, flappers and an age that people never wanted to leave.

After a simple breakfast of toast and jam (praise the Lord for Mithian who had left him some bread the day before), he made his way down to his little shop.

Emrys’ Flowerpatch had been sat nestled in its spot for nearly 25 years when Merlin had taken over from his father when he had passed away. In Merlin’s earliest memories, it had been a small shop overrun with the flowers that lived within its walls, painted a rather dark brown, with a damp, musty smell that was only partly covered by the fragrances of the flowers. When Merlin had taken over he decided the whole thing needed a make-over. In a week he had stripped the walls of what had surprisingly turned out to be wallpaper rather the paint he had been expecting, then repainting it a soft shade of yellow and rebuilding all the old shelves that were falling apart. Hunith had cried when she had seen how much change he had made to the shop that held such a huge place in her heart (it had been the place Hunith and Balinor had met and shared many happy years), but she soon understood that he couldn’t stay if it had stayed that way, it held too much the way it was.

That had been five years ago when Merlin was 19 and midway through university. He’d dropped out the chance of a promising engineering career to take over the shop despite all of Hunith’s protests, yet he loved it.

He flipped his little sign from ‘closed’ to ‘open’ and pulled back the matching yellow curtains, clipping them to the sides and allowing sunlight to fill the shop. His watering can (again, it was yellow although this time it was a much brighter shade than the lovely baby yellow shade the walls were) was exactly where he had left it, one of the blessings of leaving Mithian and Elena in charge of the shop was that they left things the way they found it, and he went on his daily routine of watering all the plants.

The phone rang five minutes later, his first order of the day which the man would be in to pick up at around 2 o’clock that afternoon. Merlin found it easier to let the customer choose what they wanted and when they wanted it; it was a strategy that saved a lot of aggravation and therefore kept the customers coming back which was always a blessing, although it did sometimes mean a huge pile up when a wedding planner decided to only order their flowers the day before the wedding because they knew Merlin would just do it without complaining at the same time as three men decide to surprise their wives with big bouquets of flowers for no obvious reason.

By 10 o’clock, people were milling in and out of the shop, both to buy flowers and to ask how his trip to Austria had been. Mithian and Elena had both popped round at different points, pulling themselves away from their precious bookshop that was right next door to welcome him back.

“Who would have thought you have been away for a week already, Merlin?” Elena had laughed, “Time does fly when you’re having fun, eh!” she said punching him playfully on the arm (it did hurt quite a bit but Merlin was so used to Elena being over enthusiastic that he decided not to say anything, it only made her embarrassed and he knew how bad that feeling was). “I mean since you’ve been gone, Mithian has had three different guys try to hit on her (she only let me hit one of them with the fly swatter, I was devastated! The other two only got a “she’s mine, pal” from me but it scared them off so Mithian decided the fly swatter was no longer needed! You should totally have words with her over that), I bought a piano we have no room for…”

“I wondered where that had come from!” Merlin cried, “You decided you have no room for it so you’d put it in my flower shop? Flower shops don’t usually have piano’s, Elena, and, if you had forgotten, I have no musical talent what so ever so can’t play the thing!”

“Oh relax, Merls, I think it makes the place look more happy and homely, and you never know you might find someone who will be willing to play it for you.”

Merlin simply shook his head and let Elena babble on for a while as he pottered around making up more arrangements and seeing what stuff needed to be ordered back in.

Mithian poked her head in 20 minutes later, causing Elena’s endless torrent of words to subside into a big cheesy grin the way it always did these days when Mithian appeared.

“Come on, Ellie, back to work? Surely it’s my turn to press Merls for all the juicy details of his trip?”

Elena sighed and headed out back to the bookshop, planting a soft kiss on Mithian’s cheek on the way past.

“You two are good for each other, you know.” Merlin said when Elena had left. “She hated being called Ellie when we were in school and even now she will only have it from you, it’s so weird! I do need to ask you, though; could you please stop her from buying so many things she doesn’t need? I really don’t need a piano.”

Mithian let out a bark of laughter, “I don’t know, Merlin, I mean I could actually see where she was coming from. She said ‘I feel like it’ll bring luck for Merlin’ or something and I kind of agreed with her, but I think that was just how the day was. It had been a good day, maybe I just wanted to spread the love.”

“Never again, Mithian, never again, okay? I don’t need luck, I need a religious intervention, and I certainly do not need a piano!”

“Understood, Merlin, loud and clear.” She paused for a second then said, “I take it that means you didn’t meet anyone in Austria?”

Merlin shot her a glare, “No, I didn’t! If I’m honest it’s getting rather embarrassing that my own mum has a better love life than I do! Shoot, talking of mum I need to phone her, but then I can’t do that till I’ve put my washing in the machine otherwise she will nag and I’ll never get back to work. Could you cover for me quickly while I go and unpack?”

“Sure thing, Merlin!” She called as he ran off upstairs before she even got a chance to reply to him properly.

In the light of day, Merlin began to realise that something was completely off with this suitcase. Especially when he picked it up and it was ten times heavier that it should have been if full of his crap. For another thing it was what his mother would describe as charcoal grey whilst his little bag was definitely more of a sort of, well, brown colour.

“Shit…” Merlin muttered to himself as he picked the lock of the alien suitcase (something he was rather good at after years of losing his keys), then unzipped it hoping to find some way of contacting the owner.

Once the lid of the suitcase had been opened, Merlin had to sit down for a moment because this certainly wasn’t his suitcase, and by the looks of things who’s ever suitcase it was would be very angry that they no longer had it with them and that he was going to be getting shouted at.

One by one he removed all the very expensive looking items from the bad. An Armani suit that appeared to have been pristinely (and no doubt expensively) dry cleaned, a huge pile of music books (even they looked expensive, all old traditional copies with brown paper and ink that looked like it had been etched on by hand not a computer), a small instrument case containing what Merlin assumed to be a some variety of flute, and a leather bound diary.

He flicked through the diary, scanning each page for a name or an address or anything really, his heart rate increasing dramatically with each page he turned without finding anything. It wasn’t until the very back page that he found the name and address of the man it belonged to, when a business card fell out of it:

 _Flautist_  
Master Arthur Pendragon  
26 Marylebone Road  
London  
07583742005  
a_pendragon@camelotmail.org

He seemed like he was a professional. And as he flicked back to the current date in the diary Merlin thought he was going to be sick. Arthur Pendragon was apparently a professional with 5 concerts coming up in the next week, who apparently was now missing an instrument and a big chunk of his music. Shit.

“MITHIAN!” he shouted as he ran back downstairs, tripping on the bottom step but catching himself before another unfortunate introduction with the floor. “Mithian, I picked up the wrong bloody suitcase.”

Mithian laughed. A bark of a laugh that people didn’t get to hear very often, and Merlin knew this was because it was her ‘yes I’m laughing at you not with you’ laugh she only ever reserved for idiots like him.

“Oh god, Mithian, please don’t laugh.” He groaned as his head fell into his hands on the counter, “What the hell am I going to do?”

“Hey, Ellie!” Mithian called instead of replying, “I owe you a tenner!”

“Huh?” Merlin said, peeking through between his fingers.

“I bet her £10 that this would be the one time you go away and don’t do anything stupid. Ellie, of course, had no faith in you and said that could so not happen and was exceptionally disappointed when you brought back no tales of woe. Looks like she was right though, Merls, you silly sod! How did you manage to pick up the wrong case?”

“I don’t know.” He grumbled, “It was the only one left on that roundabout thing so I just assumed it was mine and left, I was the last off the plane by a long way because the little woman next to me didn’t wake me up when we landed so I just guessed the only case left would be mine.”

Mithian laughed again before replying, “God, Merlin, you nutter. What am I going to do with you? You’re going to have to get in contact with the guy and get his suitcase back to him, because I doubt you named yours did you?”

“Unless the tags left over in the socks I still wear from school count then no I didn’t because you don’t go on holiday expecting to lose your own bloody suitcase!”

“With your history, Merlin, you probably should have predicted this could happen. Look, all you have to do is either ring the bloke or email him or both if you think that’ll be better and then all this mess will be sorted out nice and quickly. Alright?”

“Fine,” Merlin sighed, “I’ll ring him. There are no customers around at the moment either so none of them will be able to hear what a dunce I have been.”

“Good luck, Merls.” Mithian said with a giggle as she headed back through the door into her bookshop, leaving Merlin alone to ring this Mr Pendragon.

~*~

Arthur was pacing his apartment. His step-sister, Morgana, sat lounging on his sofa, trying her hardest not to laugh at him.

“What sort of tosser would take my suitcase!?” he was yelling, “All my stuff is in there, Morgana! I have some of the most important concerts of the year coming up this week and I am missing my piccolo, father is going to kill me. How am I meant to make it on the world’s stage if there is someone out there – who has probably never had to care for an instrument before and, oh God, Morgana, what if they have dropped it or done something stupid with it!? – who has my pic which means I can’t practice before the big shows! I’m going to make this person pay with everything they have…”

Morgana scratched her forehead absently, “Oh please, Arthur, get a grip! You hate doing these concerts and I know it, this isn’t about any of that crap. This is about staying on Uther’s good side since you came out to him! I’m sure whoever picked it up did it through an honest accident as is going to be contacting you soon.”

“How are they going to do that, ‘Gana? The suitcase is locked with no tag…”

He was cut off as his mobile began to ring, On Top Of The World by Imagine Dragons blaring out from where he had left it at full volume.

“You need to stop changing my ringtone you know.” He muttered before he answered it, “Hello, Arthur Pendragon speaking.”

“Er… hi, Mr Pendragon…” a voice stuttered through the end of the phone, “Look I’m just going to come out with it… I have your suitcase…”

Arthur flicked his gaze over to Morgana who was smirking at him (it was times like these Arthur truly believed she had some kind of magical powers that allowed her to see into the future).

“… and I noticed you have rather a lot of very important looking stuff in there so thought you’d probably want it back.”

“Indeed I would want it back… Sorry what’s your name?”

“Merlin, er, Merlin Emrys.”

“Well, Merlin, I do want my case back in the exact condition that I left it. If you have damaged any of the belongings inside it…”

“I spilt coffee on your business card, does that count?” Merlin chirped in, suddenly a lot happier now he knew the mess would all be cleared up and he could get his favourite jumper back.

Arthur tried to hold back a grunt of disapproval but it didn’t work, “So you are a complete fool then. How did you even manage to take my suitcase?”

“Excuse me!? I may have made a mistake – although we don’t actually know whether it _was_ me who picked up the wrong one, there was only one case left when I picked it up and just assumed my mum had swapped it over so it may well have been you, not me, who picked up the wrong one – but that is no reason to be rude!”

“Well if you could rectify your mistake by this afternoon I won’t have to be rude. I take it, seems as you have my business card that you also have my address. I expect to see you there at 4 o’clock. And you can have your shabby brown thing back at the same time. Goodbye.”

“But…” came the response, yet Arthur cut the bloke off before he had a chance to finish the thought.

“The world doesn’t revolve around you, Arthur. I assure you, that bag will not be here at 4 o’clock, and actually probably won’t get here at all.”

“He made the error, he pays the price. Simple as.”

“Has it honestly not occurred to you that it may have been your fault? Arthur, you may be daddy’s little prince but that doesn’t make you one, and you need to stop acting like it.” And with that final statement, she got up and left, leaving Arthur standing gaping in the middle of him big, empty studio apartment.

~*~

One thing was for sure in Merlin’s mind, there was no way he could get into London for 4 o’clock. The last bus had already left his sleepy little village for the day and the trains and taxis were way too expensive, surely Arthur could see that from the mess that was his suitcase (and thank God that Arthur did appear to have his)?

He decided there was literally nothing he could do but wait for 4 o’clock to come and go, then receive an angry phone call from Arthur Pratdragon and deal with it then.

The afternoon passed quite smoothly. He was busier than normal, probably because he hadn’t been there for a week and Elena and Mithian’s flower arrangements weren’t up to the locals’ standard.

Merlin lived for his flowers. Even when his father had been alive and he had had no connection with the Flowerpatch he spent most of his time in the garden amongst the flowers and the trees. Everything in nature was always so alive, had a sense of survival and desire to live and thrive that Merlin had never found in the human world. The vibrant colours stirred memories deeply hidden in the back of his mind and he was able to place them together with ease because it was as if they _spoke_ to him, guiding him forwards, onwards and upwards.

The hours passed quickly, faster than they probably should have done seems as he was dreading what would happen at the end. But eventually Merlin’s phone rang again, the number the same as the one he had dialled earlier. Picking it up with a resound sigh he said,

“Hello.”

“I said 4 o’clock, Emrys. It is now 5! I am a patient man, but you are pushing all my boundaries.”

“Fuck off, Pendragon.” Merlin chided, feeling particularly brave. “If you’d have let me finish earlier you would have known that there was no way I could get to you. I live in a small village with only three buses a day which I had missed the last off, and run my own business so money isn’t exactly going spare and funnily enough – though this might be news to you as you probably get chauffeured everywhere – a taxi and even the train were too expensive.”

“You managed to go on a nice holiday to Austria perfectly fine.”

“Funded by my mother, you prat! She lives out there and actually seems to be able to understand the concept that not all people have lots of money.”

“Fine.” Arthur snapped, “I will come and get the bag myself. Give me your address.”

Merlin bitterly obliged and hung up in a pretty shit mood. He closed the shop for the day after breaking one of the heads off one of the flowers in anger, bringing himself to the brink of tears because he hated hurting the flowers and knew he’d hurt more if he stayed in this mood.

Mithian and Elena were chatting happily away behind their counter in Gayes Booktique. Mithian was doing the daily money count whilst Elena sat with an ice-cream, occasionally leaning forwards to let Mithian have some before continuing to lick it herself.

“Hey, Merlin!” Elena cried, as he walked through, “I just want to thank you, by the way, not only have you won me a tenner but I get fin…”

“Enough detail thanks, Elena!” Merlin said, sticking his fingers in his ears, “It is honestly not a problem, but I do not need to know what you get done to you thanks to my misfortunes. I thought you were a reserved person, Mithian!”

“I can’t help it if Ellie gets a little carried away, or if I am as equally excited as she is for it.”

“God, why do I put up with you guys?”

“Because you have no one else.”

“And because you want us to pass all the guys that try to hit on us onto you.” Elena added, “Which might be a more regular occurrence now Mithian has decided the fly swatter can only be used in the bedroom and not to scare men away.”

“Again… too much detail.” Merlin mumbled, knowing too well he was losing the battle for decency, “Anyway I thought you’d like to know that I rang him.”

“Who?” Elena asked, taking another lick of the ice-cream.

“Arthur Penunicorn.”

“Pendragon.” Merlin corrected absent-mindedly.

“Meh, details details. I knew it was some kind of weird name with a mythical creature in it so I took a guess. What did he say?” Mithian said, waving a hand in the air as she stuck her head under the counter to look for the missing change.

“Told me to take the damn thing to him for 4 o’clock this afternoon.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Got no money, do I?”

Both of them sighed. Elena hopped off the counter to rub his back where he had slumped down on one of their chairs, “You know you could have just asked,” She said softly, “We’d always help you.”

“I know, ‘Lena, I just hate being in debt, especially to you guys. Doesn’t matter now anyway the tosser is on his way… SHIT MR GEDFREF’S FLOWERS!” he leapt off the chair, running back through to his shop still shouting, “I promised him I would get them to him today because he can’t leave his wife there on her own any more but he wanted to give her some on their anniversary the way he always used to! I have to help him!”

It took Merlin all of five minutes to create Mr Gedref’s flower arrangement. The man always went for the same sort of arrangement when he visited the shop, a mix of forget-me-nots, lilies, a few daffodils and then one singular red rose. It was a sweet mix, Merlin thought as he tied the flowers together with a simple yellow ribbon, a mix full of love and hope, yet at the same time full of sadness at the things once lost. _Pull yourself together, Merlin_ , he thought to himself, _Mithian has warned you a thousand times not to get too invested, focus!_

He took a moment to stop and savour the flowers, breathing them in with a contented sigh. On the side by the door, Merlin noticed were another bunch of flowers that had yet to be collected, for a man named Mr Sheer (who Merlin assumed had to be new in town because he had never even heard of a Mr Sheer before) but he had left an address so Merlin thought he could just take them with him and deliver them at the same time as Mr Gedref’s.

“Elena!” He called through the door, “I’m off out, I need to get these two bunches of flowers to different people before 6. If Pendragon gets here can you just get him his bag and let him go, I don’t particularly want to face him, thanks!” He did a swift about turn, aiming to leave the shop with the sense of urgency and poise, but instead was greeted with a rather large smash as he knocked a glass vase flying. “Oh fuck…” He muttered to himself before calling out again, “And if you could clear up this mess for me I would love you forever!” then he turned, trod his way carefully through the glass and out the door.

In his haste to get away he collided head on with a man he had never seen before. Said man looked horrified that Merlin had bumped into him, and as Merlin began to stammer out his apologies a realisation dawned on him, “OH! You must be Mr Sheers, very nice to meet you!” He said with delight, taking the guys hand and shaking it vigorously, “These are your flowers, I hope you like them. If you could just leave the cash on the top of the counter that would be great, I would let you pay by card but the machine has been paying up lately and a lovely elderly man down the road is waiting for his flowers so I have to dash. Thank you for shopping with Emrys’ Flowerpatch!” and he turned to run off down the road, only slightly catching his foot on the cobblestones.

Arthur watched as the strange boy ran off down the road, before letting his eyes drop to the bunch of flowers that now sat in his hands. He had to assume that the guy had not meant to give these to him, evident by the fact that he was definitely not “Mr Sheers”.

Arthur pushed his way into the crooked little shop, trying not to flinch at the cheesiness of the little bells that rang as the door opened. God I hate places like this, he thought to himself as he looked round the whole shop, before noticing young woman clearing up a puddle of water and glass from the floor.

“Hi.” He said, turning on his flirty charm, he knew how to get things done easier.

“I take it you’re not Mr Sheers then.” Another woman said. She was standing in a doorframe that appeared to separate the flowershop from the (if he remembered rightly) bookshelf next door. “In fact, I’d hazard a guess and say you are Arthur Pendragon?”

“Yeah, and I take it that the idiot who just ran into me was Merlin Emrys?”

“That’s the one.” Mithian said with a smirk, “But don’t call him an idiot.”

“Yeah, only we’re allowed to do that.” Elena said, “He might act like a bit of a dumbo but he means well, and surely that matters more?”

“Not where I come from.” Arthur muttered under his breath, “Anyway, I came for my bag not to talk.”

Elena flinched, still not standing from her position on the floor. “Well, what it is…”

“Merlin dropped a vase of water on your bag.” Mithian said bluntly, knowing far too well Elena would never get down to the point, she already seemed terrified of the kind of macho image Pendragon had going on, “And it was a glass vase so it smashed and now your bag is covered.”

“Excuse me?” Arthur said, his heart beginning to race.

“I’m sorry.” Elena said, holding the dripping bag up to him and avoiding eye contact. “Merlin knocked it over on his way out and thought it had just smashed, he didn’t have time to notice it fell onto your bag.”

Arthur stood for a minute, staring mutely at the bag and the destroyed contents it now contained, before roaring, “He should have fucking noticed!” then as both Mithian and Elena flinched he quietened down and said, “I have to go. Merlin will be hearing from me or my sister tomorrow, and he has hell to pay.” And he turned and stalked out the room.

Merlin returned 10 minutes later sucking a strawberry lollypop, saying as he walked in the door, “Mrs Gedref is so lovely, it’s such a shame all of this has happened to her. She gave me this lollypop and…”

“Merlin.” Mithian interrupted. “Arthur came.”

“Oh yeah? How did that go?”

The two ladies glanced at each other before silently agreeing that Elena should be the one to tell him, after all, Mithian had dealt with Arthur.

“You know you knocked over that vase before you left?” she waited for Merlin to nod before she continued, “Well… you knocked it onto Arthur’s bag and the water spilt all over his things, everything was ruined.”

The lollypop fell with a small pop from Merlin’s mouth as it fell open, “No way… you’re kidding me right?” he pleaded.

“He said either he or his sister will be contacting you tomorrow, and I’m assuming he means to make you pay for the damages.”

“Fuck…” he whispered, “Did you actually see the contents of that bag? I’m going to have to sell the shop to pay back all of that stuff! I can’t lose the shop, guys, it’s all I have. God I bet he didn’t even bring my bag back did he so I can’t even sit and wallow in my favourite jumper…” he carried on talking for nearly 10 non-stop minutes before Elena and Mithian were able to calm him down. They closed both shops for the day and took him upstairs, spending the night watching movies and hopefully forgetting about everything.

~*~

The drive home was tedious to say the least. Arthur was furious, but he knew he would be dead if he couldn’t get hold of the music he needed before the concert tomorrow. The spring festival was the highlight of his father’s calendar, and this was only the second year Arthur had been selected to play there. If he didn’t make it… he didn’t want to think of what would happen.

“Morgana!” He shouted down the phone, “That Emrys bloke has gone and spilt water all over my music, I have nothing left for tomorrow and I’m afraid to even look in the piccolo case because if water got in there then…”

“Good evening to you too, Arthur.” Morgana replied sleepily, “Sounds like your meeting didn’t go too well.”

“No it… are you in bed, Morgana?”

“Does it matter?”

“It’s six o’clock in the evening why the hell are you in… oh gods actually I don’t want to know.”

“Well your schedule doesn’t leave much room for me and Leon to have some fun time, so I thought we’d make the most of it while you were out of town. Obviously you can’t even spend an hour without my company.”

“Yeah yeah, Morgana, you keep telling yourself that. Anyway, is there any way you can get me the music I need before tomorrow?”

There was a hum of consideration passed down the line before she responding with a resounding “No.”

“What!?”

“No.” she said again, “I’m not pampering to your needs this time, Arthur. You never wanted any of this crap anyway, and I remember being with you last year the day of the spring festival was hell on Earth and I am not doing that again. Instead, you are going home and packing your bags, then turning back around and living in that village for a while. I’ve done my research (well, Faceboook stalking, it’s the same thing) and it looks like Merlin Emrys might just be the person you are searching for.”

“You have got to be joking… Father would absolutely kill me if he finds out!”

“I’m being perfectly serious, Arthur, and Uther won’t know where you are and you’ll leave your phone on the counter so he can’t contact you at all. Go on, Arthur, take this jump away from everything you hate. I’ll ring Emrys and explain what you want in return for destroying all you stuff, I’m sure he won’t refuse. Bye then.” And she hung up on him.

 _This has to be the worst idea Morgana had ever come up with, and she’s come up with a few in her time,_ Arthur thought to himself, but Arthur knew that without her help he’d never perform at the spring festival and he would be killed by his father anyway. He might as well take this chance to go and be someone new.

Sitting alone in his car, a chuckle bubbled out of Arthur, erupting in the pit of his stomach till he could keep it in no more and he just didn’t stop giggling. Soon the giggles turned into full blown laughter that he couldn’t stop at all. Of course, Morgana was right. He wasn’t cut out for the whole performing life. This was exactly the sort of thing he needed.

~*~

The phone call that followed between Morgana and Mithian (who had refused to let Merlin speak to her, they’d only just managed to get the sad pout from his face and they didn’t want to go back there again) was tense to say the least. They soon agreed, however, that Merlin did owe Arthur this chance and that he would be allowed to stay in Merlin’s spare room,

“But only until he finds his feet, okay?” Mithian said with a sigh.

 “Of course.” Morgana replied, glad that the people she had picked out for her brother seemed to be half decent.

It was then Mithian’s job to break the news to Merlin, who surprisingly didn’t protest at all. He just nodded miserably, mumbling something like “Suppose I deserve it don’t I?” then getting up, kissing both Elena and Mithian on the cheek with a ‘thank you’ each he headed off to bed.

The next morning he begrudgingly set to work giving his small living quarters the once over and making up the bed in the spare room. His mother would probably kill him for no longer having space to have her over in, although she’d probably be alright when she realised he had a handsome man staying with him instead.

“I’m so fucked.” He muttered to himself a number of times throughout the morning, remembering again and again the angel carved face and body that Arthur seemed to possess, then remembering that Arthur was an arrogant prat so _that_ sort of thing could never happen.

Arthur arrived at 10 o’clock sharp, just the way Morgana had promised he would. He’d lost the suit of the day before and was now wearing a simple polo shirt and some made-to-look worn jeans, standing by the door with his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Hi.” He said, with a curt nod, “Is this…” he trailed off, not quite knowing how to talk to the guy he was going to be sharing a house (and apparently a shop) with.

“Look,” Merlin said, “I think we got off to a bad start. Shall we start again? You can buy me a pint and we’ll just get on with this.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m Arthur Pendragon, and here’s your suitcase back, luckily we did just have a basic swap.” He said, holding out both hands, one for Merlin to shake and the other for him to take his bag from. “And as much as I was tempted to spill paint or something on it, I didn’t. Morgana told you – actually I think she told Mithian – that I need a new start, so I thought I’d get going with that.”

“Jees, that’s good of you.” Merlin laughed, “But thanks, my favourite jumper’s in there, I’d have been devastated if I’d lost it.”

“Yeah well, you haven’t so… And actually the stuff I wanted to keep from my case is fine too. I suppose I should tell you I didn’t want to play in the Spring Festival or any of the other concerts my father had planned for me. Morgana realised, as always, before I did but I got there on my own eventually. And that’s what you’re giving me, a new start away from the world’s stage.”

“I don’t really think it’s any of my business…”

“Of course it is! I’m crashing your home and your shop; you have the right to know. Though I suppose the two girls will want to know too…”

“You’re going to have to explain it all over again to them, don’t you worry about that!” Merlin laughed, “And by the way,” He added, “They’re women, not girls or pretty things or any other pet name alright? And yes, they will probably be much harsher on you than I was – well, Mithian will be, Elena is a little less predictable. Come on, come through.” He said as he noticed they were still both standing in the doorway. “If you head to the stairs at the back, your room will be the one on the left. This place isn’t much, probably nothing at all like what you’re used to, but it’s home. I’ll be down here with customers when you’re done.”

Merlin watched Arthur’s retreating back, only allowing his eyes to drop for a few seconds down to Arthur’s glorious backside.

Merely 10 seconds after Arthur left, Elena and Mithian appeared at the door, both grinning at him waiting for him to spill the beans. He let out a huff of a laugh before saying,

“Not right now, guys, seriously. How about we have dinner tonight? You up for cooking, Elena?”

“Fine.” She said with a sigh, “But only because I love you.”

“All lies!” he called to their retreating backs, “You just want to watch and see if there are any fireworks!”

He heard laughter coming from the both of them but decided not to dwell on it. A man was waiting at the counter who looked like he needed help, so Merlin put back on his smile and set off back to work.

Arthur came back down half an hour later, he too needing to stoop to get through the small doorframe (though he managed to do so with a lot more grace that Merlin ever managed, but that was to be expected). He came asking about what he could do, and Merlin said he could go round the village to do some deliveries,

“Besides,” he said, “You need to get to know the village.” So he handed him several bunches of flowers and the addresses they need to be got to and let Arthur make his own way round, besides getting lost would teach Arthur some much needed life lessons.

Merlin spent the rest of the day dealing with customers and just simply being with the flowers. Something seemed to have changed about them since Arthur had arrived. They seemed more vivid, brighter and happier than they had before. They were stirring, sending out a whisper that spread through them until it tingled on Merlin’s skin and told him _this is it, this is your destiny. Jump, Merlin, jump._

Arthur returned just after closing time, looking slightly baffled but not saying anything about it. Merlin had to supress a smirk because he knew exactly what had got Arthur looking so ruffled: the elderly Lady Katrina. She was doddery at the best of times, yet seemed to become even more so when faced with new people, especially if they were young and handsome.

“Elena promised to make us dinner. I can’t cook for toffee and usually just eat tinned soup and bread or a ready meal if one of us has been into town, so this is a rare treat.” And he led the way through into the bookshop that had been temporarily set up with a dining table in the middle of it, set for the four of them.

“Welcome, Arthur, to Gayes Booktique! I know we’ve already met but today is the day for new introductions, so I’m Mithian, and the lovely lady cooking our meal tonight is my fiancé, Elena.”

“Fiancé?” Arthur repeated.

“Yep, you got a problem with that?”

“And if you do,” Merlin added, “You should probably know that I’m gay so you’re pretty much going to have to just live with it.”

“God no!” Arthur laughed, his heart racing, “No, honestly it’s fine, more than fine, it’s great!”

The three others looked at each other, before shaking it off and heading back to the conversation. Merlin was right, Mithian and Elena did spend the night interrogating him on absolutely everything they could think off and then some. Arthur, on his part, actually did begin to relax, his uptight exterior slipping away to reveal a much friendlier and warmer inside.

“I’m stuffed!” Merlin said a few hours later, leaning back in his chair after wolfing down his last slice of chocolate cake. “That was heavenly, Elena.”

“Sure was!” Elena replied beaming. “Now, if you two gentlemen don’t mind we are off to bed.” Elena giggled with glee. “Mithian has some promises to make up to me after we spent last night looking after you, Merlin. Night, guys!” and she grabbed Mithian by the hand and pulled her off through their shop and into the rooms above.

“Please keep it down this time!” Merlin called after them, before turning back to Arthur. “They get a bit… noisy… I’m afraid, especially because they’re used to it only being me and they say that because of the whole gay thing that it doesn’t matter because it won’t be a turn on or anything. I hope that’s alright?”

“Not much we can do about it even if I wanted to, is there?” he said with a smile, “It’s fine anyway, I’ll just have to purchase some earplugs at some point.” And said no more about it as they headed upstairs to bed. “Good night, Merlin.”

“Night, Arthur.”

Merlin lay in bed that night allowing his mind to wander. It felt weird having someone who wasn’t his mother staying with him, yet it felt so _right_ at the same time. Eventually he managed to drift off to sleep, still thinking about all the little odds and sods jobs he could get Arthur doing and how long he reckoned the whole thing would last.

~*~

They soon settled into an easy routine. Merlin would make the bouquets and set up the shop and generally do everything to do with the flowers, whilst Arthur handled the people. For someone who had seemed to be such a dickhead when they first met, it appeared that Arthur had rather good people skills, but was hopeless when it came to flowers.

“Ahh good morning, Arthur, or should I say afternoon?” Merlin said to Arthur a week after he had first arrived, “Seriously, do you need to sleep for so long every day?”

Arthur shrugged before replying, “If you didn’t make me do so much walking every day I wouldn’t be so tired all the time.”

“I give you deliveries that would take me 10 minutes and you don’t return for an hour, I don’t understand how you manage it.”

“I just haven’t learnt your shortcuts yet, that’s all.” Arthur responded playfully, “And I bet people let you cut across their back gardens and things when you give them that grin of yours, especially all the elderly ladies.”

Merlin laughed at that. It was true, he did use his smile to get him the most of the stuff he wanted. His mother had once said it was the lop-sidedness of it that gave it its charm, and decided to take it as a compliment.

“And I’m sure those satellite ears of yours help you find your well, too.”

“Hey! That’s a bit harsh.” Elena laughed as she bustled her way into the Flowerpatch.

“Oh don’t try and pretend you’ve never said anything!” Arthur said.

“Actually she hasn’t,” Merlin said, “She was there when they picked on me all the way through school so decided she didn’t need to join in either.”

“And I stopped a few of them as well, only managed to knock one tooth out which I found quite disappointing.”

“The boy’s mother wasn’t very happy though, was she?”

“No but he had it coming, and he never picked on you again so the three weeks of detention and the years’ worth of grounding was worth it.”

“You known each other a long time then?” Arthur questioned.

“Oh forever!” Elena said, “Which is why I have come for his help now. Mine and Mithian’s anniversary of our engagement is coming up this week and I thought you could help me pick out a gift? I wouldn’t normally have bothered but you have Arthur to look after the shop now so I thought this year it could be…”

“Sounds like a great idea, Elena!” Merlin interrupted, knowing all too well that Elena would never stop talking otherwise, “I’m sure Arthur can manage the flowers, right, Arthur?”

“Er… yeah, yeah, of course I can.” How hard can it be?

“Sorted then! I was thinking we could get the bus into town and go to…” and she carried on talking as she hooked her arm through Merlin’s and led him out the shop. “… and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to test the capabilities of your now roomie.”  She finished with a cheeky smile as they hopped onto the bus, “There would be no other way of getting you away from there.”

She was right, Merlin knew that. His flowershop was too precious for him to leave of his own accord, so guilt tripping him into leaving was probably for the best.

They had a fun afternoon out shopping, though it did really make Merlin’s feet hurt. Elena was full of energy, bounding around everywhere without a care in the world and occasionally seeming to forget what they were there for. But Merlin didn’t really mind. When Elena was happy, Merlin was happy so that’s really all that mattered. He managed, too, to buy himself some new stuff while they were out: some DVDs he’d wanted for a while and some new bed covers for Arthur (the pink frilly ones his mum really liked probably weren’t to Arthur’s taste). He didn’t really have the money to spend, but business had picked up since Arthur had joined him because it meant there was always someone in the shop even if there were deliveries to do or lunch to buy.

Elena managed to pick up the perfect gift for Mithian, even though she was constantly worrying about whether or not it would be enough,

“But, Merlin,” she said, “It’s an _anniversary_ not just a gift because I can! What if she doesn’t think it’s special enough or she doesn’t like it or…”

“Elena, Mithian would appreciate anything you got for her because _you_ got it for her. And anyway it’s beautiful, how could she not love it?”

Elena sighed at that, content with her purchase and they were finally able to get home.

It wasn’t late, not by a long way because of when the buses ran. There were still people bumbling their way around the village, arms laden with goods from the market that was always open on Wednesdays. They were still chatting as they walked down the street, dreaming up all concoctions of possibilities that could have occurred to Arthur after being left to his own devices.

Merlin had to kick the Flowerpatch door gently open with his foot because of the bags he held in his arms. The flowers seemed to smile at him as he walked through, distracting him for a moment before he began to hear some raised voices coming from the shop counter.

“Is everything alright?” he said as Arthur and an old man came into view as he rounded a plant, “Mr de Bois,” he said with alarm, knowing he was picky at the best of times let alone when left with anyone who wasn’t Merlin, “Arthur.”

“Sweet peas, Merlin, sweet peas!” Mr de Bois screamed, shaking the lilac in Merlin’s face, “How could you let your staff be so insensitive!?” he was almost shaking with rage.

Merlin placed his bags on the floor before turning back to Mr de Bois and taking the sweet peas from him, trying to save them from harm.

“I’m sorry, Mr de Bois,” Arthur stuttered, “I’ve never… what I mean is…”

“What Arthur is trying to say,” Merlin cut in, noting Arthur’s small smile of thanks, “Is he has never worked with flowers on his own before and is yet to understand the delicate meanings of them. I also made the mistake of not writing specifically what these flowers would be for so he just had to make up an arrangement with absolutely no guidance. I will remake your flowers with the daffodils and daisies your niece likes the most, and you will have them on the house.”

This seemed to appease the still seething Mr de Bois, and he stopped giving Arthur such deadly stares. Merlin swiftly set to work, pulling together the flowers Mr de Bois required, glad he managed to catch this incident before Mr de Bois used his contacts to get his little shop pulled down.

“Sorry for the wait,” Merlin said cheerily as he handed the flowers over, having tied them with a soft pink ribbon Mr de Bois hadn’t asked for but that he knew would make Mr de Bois feel more important. “And again, I am so sorry for the misunderstanding. I will ensure that Arthur learns the different flowers and will not be left to serve flowers to people until I feel he is properly ready.”

Mr de Bois merely nodded at him, not even saying a ‘thank you’ before he turned on his heels, nose in the air, and headed out of the shop. Both Merlin and Arthur waited silently until the little bells had dingled before they turned to each other to speak.

“Look, Merlin…” Arthur started, hoping to get an apology in before Merlin shouted him (at least that’s what he assumed Merlin was going to do).

“Arthur, it’s fine.” Merlin said with a grin, “Agravaine is an agrapain at the best of times and how were you meant to know any of the meaning behind them or what is happening with his niece. And before you ask, sweet peas are a symbol for ‘Goodbye’ and seems as he is giving them to her because she is battling cancer I don’t think you made quite the right choice.”

“Oh…”

“Oh indeed!” Merlin chuckled, “He could have brought this whole place down, you know, he has the contacts.”

“I’m lucky you saved me from him then.”

“Yes you are,” he said, pausing for a second then adding, “And I think he would have hit you at some point, he has no self-restraint.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then.” Arthur muttered, “I think I owe you something for saving my ass like that. A pint maybe?”

“I’m kind of tired, if I’m honest, Arthur. A day out with Elena could tire a banshee and I am simply a mortal man, I don’t stand a chance. Maybe another day?”

“Yeah, sure!” Arthur said with a little too much enthusiasm, beaming at Merlin like a deranged person, Merlin just assumed it was because he hadn’t been told off so added,

“You’re sticking to deliveries from now on, Arthur, I don’t need any more of those incidents!”

Arthur laughed, “Sure thing, boss. Time to close up?”

“I think so. I have some new films we can watch if you like?”

They headed upstairs after locking everything away, Merlin taunting Arthur mercilessly after the events of the day. And they spent the rest of the night watching dodgy fantasy films in Merlin’s room, Merlin spread out on the bed and Arthur tucked into the armchair by the window.

~*~

From then on, Arthur was just sent out on errands, never again trusted to make any flower arrangements. Merlin still used that incident to tease Arthur, occasionally putting a sweat pea flower onto the top of his toast in the morning or putting them in his wallet when he left it lying around.

Arthur, for his part, always did his duties with added care and attention, desperate not to let Merlin down again. He even started doing some deliveries for Elena and Mithian who had decided to re-catalogue all their books so didn’t really have time for deliveries themselves. Arthur didn’t mind, though. He’d never had the chance to just wander around before, having always been cooped up indoors to practice and perform day after day. He became quite a favourite with the locals too, bringing back goods they had made or bought for him and Merlin as a thank you daily.

One afternoon, about three months after the whole suitcase covered in water incident, Mithian and Elena sat together in the little bakery just round the corner.

“They’re made for each other, Ellie.” Mithian was saying, “Merlin and Arthur, it’s like it’s destiny or something, you know? I don’t know what gives me that feeling but it sure is a strong one.”

Elena laughed, “No I get you. And the way they both just stare at each other when they think the other isn’t watching! It’s killing me to watch! They could be so happy together.”

“Now that’s where you’re wrong, Ellie,” Mithian said with a soft smile, “They are already very happy together, they could just be… happier, romantically happier.”

They continued to talk like this for a while, hatching a plan to try and get Merlin and Arthur together. They both felt that in a way they both owed Merlin this as a favour. He had introduced them to each other and now it was their turn to show him what was right in front of him.

Into conversation that day, Elena managed to slip a sly “You never took Merlin out for either of the pints you owe him, you know.” To Arthur, who stared pensively at her for a second before replying.

“Both pints?”

“Duh,” Elena said, leaning forward and brushing some soil off Arthur’s shoulder, “One for being a dick to him when you first met and for the incident with Mr de Bois...”

“He told you about that!?”

“He tells us everything.”

“Us…” Arthur muttered, “Of course he did. You think I still owe them to him then?”

“Oh you owe him much more! Like, a whole dinner or something at that new pizzeria they’ve opened on the edge of the village, maybe with a nice bottle of his favourite red wine too.”

“And his favourite would be?”

“Babera d’Asti.” She said with a sly grin, “Dark Italian beauty that one. Oopsy sorry I have to go! Mithian will kill me if she sees me slacking from the cataloguing!

She ran off leaving Arthur nodding to himself, almost bumping into Merlin who had been in the Booktique helping Mithian create some new window displays.

Arthur managed to make the arrangements to take Merlin out to dinner for that night, personally going into the pizzeria to ensure a table, making a detour from his normal route. They even had the right wine in stock, which Arthur was very impressed with seems as it was only a small local pizzeria not a big expensive chain brand.

He invited Merlin out when he returned, timing his arrival perfectly with closing time so he didn’t have time to get worked up over it or for Merlin to wonder why he hadn’t told him earlier.

Merlin, of course, did question why it was so sudden, but Arthur simply shrugged it off with a simple,

“I still owe you for letting me stay, and for being a dick, and for the incident with Mr de Bois. And My sister has finally been able to change all my bank accounts so I can use my money without my father finding me, so why not celebrate?”

The evening went really well. Both of them had been worried they would have nothing to talk about outside of the shop, but they needn’t have. For the first time, Arthur began to open up about his music, telling Merlin how much he missed hearing it but didn’t hear playing it. Told of how his father had pressured him into music school and through the system even though all Arthur had wanted to do was play for fun, not in front of audiences when he was 10. How it was always his father who found him concerts to play in, knowing Arthur wouldn’t do it himself because even Uther knew deep down that Arthur hated it. Merlin too opened up, chatting away about his mother and his stepfather, about where the shop came from, how he had met the girls. The wine ran freely between them, soon running out and they ordered beers instead. It was warm and the food was good, better than either of them had had for a while, pretty much since Austria.

If Merlin was more touchy feely than usual he knew he could blame it on the alcohol, and he tried not to get his hopes up when Arthur was the same and certainly not pushing Merlin away – it had to be the alcohol because Arthur was so not gay. _Was he? No_. Merlin told himself, refusing to let himself go down that route, _it can only disappoint_.

They staggered home at around 11 o’clock, still chatting away. This time, Merlin let Arthur choose which film they watched from his collection. He taunted Arthur when he went straight for the action packed army flick, calling him a “typical bloke with no soul”, only stopping when Arthur turned on the puppy eyes and Merlin didn’t know if he could control himself well enough not to pounce on Arthur right there. It was the first time Merlin actually enjoyed that particular film, he’d only had it there in case his mate, Gwaine, popped round on his travels because he, like Arthur, wasn’t really too keen on the fantasy thing. But Arthur would sit there making comments about the whole film, every little detail analysed until Merlin was in hysterics because the comments became things like,

 “They should so not have picked that shade of red for her.”

“You could pass off quite well as a camp man, you know.” Merlin had giggled after that one, “All these comments on fashion, and being right about it.”

“Huh?” Arthur said, turning to him, “Merlin, I’m gay of course I can…” But he trailed off. Had he really just said that out loud? He knew he hadn’t meant to, but the look on Merlin’s face said he had. “Of course I can say things like that.” He finished, poking his tongue out at Merlin.

Merlin just laughed slightly hysterically, but they both stayed quiet till the film ended.

“Well, night then, Merlin.” Arthur said, uncurling himself from the sofa as it ended, turning to find Merlin had pretty much passed out still fully clothed on top of his duvet. Arthur knew he had to take it upon himself to tuck Merlin in, pulling off Merlin’s jumper while he was at it to make sure he didn’t over heat in the night. Then he headed off to bed himself.

Merlin woke the next morning still in the same position Arthur had left him in. He didn’t remember Arthur leaving which was weird, but remembered the rest of the night so he knew he must have just fallen asleep at some point. He remembered with a jolt Arthur’s comment about him being gay, and couldn’t decide whether to scream with happiness or cry because Arthur would never like a guy like him.

He made his way downstairs after taking a quick shower, feeling sticky after the heat of the restaurant and sleeping in his clothes. Arthur was stood in the small kitchen making toast and jam, and turned to give Merlin a smile as he made his way in.

“You were out like a light before the film even finished.” He teased, handing Merlin a plate of food, “It’s not the way I expect to end a night with someone I take for dinner.”

Merlin blushed, trying to hide his face from Arthur who was now smiling at him between mouthfuls of his own toast without saying anything.

“Yeah well, I have been working very hard.”

“I’m the one who has to do all the walking! So technically you only do half the work you used to do, I’ve taken a load of it off your shoulders.”

“I have to make more arrangements though since I have more time.”

“True, and art is tiring.” He stood nodding, obviously contemplating something. “Do you mind if I play that piano for a bit,” he said, “The one you said Elena bought when you were in Austria then found she had nowhere to put it.”

“Sure,” Merlin said, his mouth full of the last bites of his toast, “Always hoped it would come to some use, and I think it will be nice to have some music around here for a change that isn’t just pop music from the radio.”

Arthur laughed, “I guess it will, some of your older customers don’t seem to appreciate Katy Perry the way you do.”

“And it breaks my heart to think of it! But go ahead, I won’t stop you. Well, I will stop you if you start scaring away the customers, I can’t be having that, but I’m assuming you’re as good at the piano as you are at the flute so it can only be good.”

It was the first time Merlin had even seen Arthur approach an instrument in the time he had been there. He watched Arthur approach the piano, a heaviness seemingly weighing him down as he lifted the lid. It was probably nothing like the pianos Arthur was used to, more a dinky thing played in a primary school than the grand pianos Arthur had played at in the past.

Arthur smiled as he sat down at the piano, stroking the keys as if welcoming a long lost friend. They felt familiar yet alien under his fingers, the old and the new of his life now colliding and he wasn’t sure if he was going to like it. But music soon began to fill the shop, the pieces he knew so well trickling from his fingertips as the notes bounced and danced with the flowers.

Merlin leant on the door frame, entranced by the site of Arthur lost in the piano, the Flowerpatch feeling suddenly so much more alive, as if the balance, the push and the pull of give and take had somehow been restored. And Arthur, Arthur seemed to breathe the music. It was hard for Merlin to believe Arthur was the same person as he normally was, he seemed full of grace and poise and _beauty_ , he thought to himself, turning away before he couldn’t stop himself.

People drifted in and out of the Flowerpatch a lot more in the days that followed, especially when Arthur pulled the flute out as well. He had said he wasn’t ready to play it, but with the piano reigniting the flame he couldn’t resist the pull of the instrument. But it brought people into the shop, so Merlin wasn’t going to comment. Instead he just spent more of his time watching Arthur than ever, ensuring that for at least half the day there were no deliveries to do so Arthur could immerse himself and rediscover what he loved most.

Arthur still loved his deliveries. He’d began to get very friendly with a lot of the people in the village, especially a few of the older ladies who often had odd jobs for him to do when he went round there (whether that was getting a box down off their top shelves or mowing the grass, he would always do it). In turn, they were supplying him with lots of sweet chocolates, cakes and all of manner of items, often with a wink and a,

“For that lovely boy of yours.”

Arthur pretended not to have a clue what they were talking about, which only led to more teasing but he didn’t really mind, it was all harmless fun. He did, too, manage to salvage a load of fantasy DVDs from a boy who was trying to raise money for uni, and gave them as a gift to Merlin, taking his time to wrap them up nicely with blue ribbon.

Elena and Mithian noticed all of it. They watched as Merlin and Arthur pined over each other, slowly beginning to tire of the puppy dog eyes and the “But he would never like me!”’s that kept coming their way from both parties.

“It’s like we’re agony aunts, or something.” Elena sighed one morning as she sipped her cup of tea, “I can’t decide whether or not we’re meant to tell them they’re being blind or to just leave them to it.”

“Maybe a mid-point?” Mithian said, “Like, let’s not tell them but we can force them into it?”

“Gentle persuasion?”

“Yeah. Trap them in a cupboard or something, you’ve managed to do it to Merlin accidentally before so surely you could do it on purpose!”

Elena laughed, remembering Merlin’s face after the incident, “He didn’t trust me for months! But yeah, we could give it ago.”

It was harder than it seemed, however, to catch the two in a room together. As soon as someone else entered they would scatter, heading swiftly for the door suddenly remembering the very urgent business they meant to attend to.

Funnily enough, it was a power cut that solved all of Elena and Mithian’s problems. Merlin’s electricity supply was always playing up, and one evening in late November the mains supply to the Flowerpatch cut off completely, plunging Arthur and Merlin into darkness.

“ELENA!” Merlin cried as the lights went out, “The lights have gone again, I’ll see if there’s a way of fixing them but we might be crashing at yours tonight. Arthur, come give me a hand with this.”

Elena knew this would be her only chance. She snuck through the connecting door, watching Merlin and Arthur’s back shuffle through into the room with the piano which also was home to the electrics box. She slipped through the shop as the door clicked shut, softly turning the key in the lock and pocketing it before running back to the Booktique cackling gleefully.

“Right…” Merlin said, turning on the torch, “If you hold this I’ll see if I can get it back on again…”

“Sure thing.” Arthur said, taking the torch and shining it on the box, “I take it this happens a lot then.”

“Yeah, sorry. Sometimes it’s me not paying the bills but it is usually just this switch.”

“How can you not pay the bills?”

“I forget! Or I don’t have enough money left but that’s not the point! Usually in the summer I just don’t bother, it just gets cold in the winter but I get out of the habit and end up not paying it then this happens...”

“Merlin, look how about I take over all that stuff from now on? I’ll pay the electricity bill and the gas bill and the water bill and whatever bills you like. My father still gives me the money I want because he doesn’t want to face what would happen if I were to resurface…”

“You really don’t have to do that, Arthur.” Merlin said, his shoulders drooping, “But I would be very grateful.” He gave Arthur a small smile, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do this time, the switch is up which means…”

“You forgot?”

“I forgot, yeah.” Merlin said, getting up and heading the door, “It’ll be fine, though, Elena and Mithian… fuck what has happened now!?” he shook the door handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. He tried again, and again, again to no avail, “The doors jammed, or locked, one of the two.” Merlin said with a droop of his shoulders, “ELENA! MITHIAN!” he shouted.

“Merlin…” Arthur interrupted, “Mithian was taking Ellie out tonight, they’re probably already gone.” He sat himself down on the floor, back against the door. “Come and sit down, Merlin, they’ll come looking for us eventually.”

They sat in an awkward silence for a while, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness because the torch was beginning to flicker, so it was safest to just turn it off completely so they could use it later.

“What do we do now then?” Merlin said after a while, hoping Arthur hadn’t nodded off on him, he couldn’t bear the thought of being the only one awake.

“Fucked knows.” Arthur laughed, “Everything I can think off involves light, electricity or a combination of the two.”

“There’s the piano?”

“I’m not in the mood.” Arthur said, slightly mournfully, “We could just talk?”

“True,” Merlin replied, “What about?”

“You’re full of questions you are! How about you tell me where the flowers thing comes from?”

“I’ve told you that before.” Merlin pointed out, knowing all too well he’d told Arthur the first time they had gone out for dinner, “How about you fill me in on the lives of the people I’ve been missing by not doing deliveries?”

Arthur sighed, “To be honest, Merlin, not much goes on. They do like a good gossip though! I’ve started doing extra little jobs for a lot of them on the rounds whilst they natter away. God, living in London I never spoke to my neighbours once and in 6 months I now know everyone!”

Merlin chuckled, “Well it’s a small village is Camelot. Everyone knows everyone, every wedding or christening is a public event, and it becomes the biggest insult if you don’t invite someone.”

“Yeah, I get the feeling. I mean, you know the other day I brought back those cupcakes from Julie? Well she gives them to me and goes –“ But Arthur cut himself off.

“Goes…” Merlin prompted, trying desperately to read Arthur’s face in the darkness.

“Give them to that boy of yours.” Arthur finished, looking up at Merlin with a blush, “They think we’re…”

“A couple.” Merlin finished, his voice an almost whisper, “And er…” He coughed, “What do you make of it?” He said, feeling his heart rate start soaring.

“I wouldn’t… I… I think it’s quite flattering.”

“Huh?” That wasn’t the answer Merlin had been expecting.

“Yeah… I, er, well, I guess it’s a blessing isn’t it? They’re saying I’m worthy enough to be with you, which is total bollocks, you’re way too good for me…” He started to babble as Merlin stayed staring startled at him, “And you have everyone to choose from you wouldn’t want…” but his words were cut off with the press of Merlin’s lips on his own.

After a few moments they pulled apart, their foreheads still touching, breathing in one another how they had both longed to do for oh so long.

“You clotpole, Arthur Pendragon.” Merlin giggled, “How on Earth could you think that!?”

Arthur just shrugged, “You’re just… amazing.” He said softly, “Nice and kind and funny, everything I try to be but never really have been.”

“You’ve been blind to yourself, I’ll have to show you how wrong you are.” And he went in for another kiss.

Elena and Mithian moved away from where they had been crouched on the floor next to the door, quietly high fiving each other on the way back to the Booktique, having unlocked the door behind them.

Merlin and Arthur awoke the next morning, curled around each other slumped against the wall. Both of them groaned at their aching joints but were grinning to each other.

“We should try the door again.” Merlin yawned, with a cat-like stretch, “It’ll probably open first time, sods law or something.”

Arthur huffed, “And I thought you had planned it to get me in here alone.”

“No, that was just a perk!” Merlin grinned up at him, his head on Arthur’s lap, “Honestly, I had no idea. You are right, though, it does seem a bit weird.”

“A worth it kind of good weird, I think.” Arthur said, leaning forward and kissing Merlin’s forehead. “Come on, let’s see if we can get out of here.”

They stood up slowly, stretching out each individual muscle in the hope of regaining movement. The door, of course, opened as soon as Merlin touched the handle, but all he could do was shrug sheepishly and hope that Arthur believed it wasn’t his fault.

“Morning, boys.” Came a chorus of voices from the counter as they entered the shop. Elena and Mithian were standing, leaning next to the till each with a coffee in their hand and a smirk on their face.

“What happened to you two, then?” Mithian said, her voice full of innocence.

“Well…” Arthur started, but Merlin interrupted before he could continue.

“Oh like you don’t know, Mithian!” He laughed, “You minxes!”

“Huh?” Arthur said.

“They planned this. The whole thing.”

“Oh… you mean the… everything?”

“Everything.” Elena replied gleefully, “You needed a push in the right direction you daft sods. Playing around each other all these months and not taking it anywhere, it was painful to watch.”

Merlin laughed again, moving over to hug first Elena and then Mithian, as Arthur stood awkwardly in the corner, hands in his pockets and his head ducked.

“I need a shower.” Merlin said when all the hugging and whispered thanks were finally over.

“I’ll join you.” Arthur added almost instantly, catching himself a second too late as Mithian and Elena dissolved into fits of giggles.

“We’ll leave you to it then.” Mithian said as they headed out through the joining door, a still giggling Elena following in her wake.

As Arthur rose his head from where it had once again fallen to stare at the floor, he noticed that Merlin looked as if he had swallowed the sun. Merlin was wandering around the shop, humming a piece of music, _Debussy_ , that Arthur had been playing the day before, stroking the flowers and spraying some of them with water, bringing with him the breath of life. But as he walked, he as grinning too, like the cat who’d got the cream and the sun was bouncing in through the shop windows and bouncing off him and making him golden.

It wasn’t long before Merlin placed the bottle of water down, took Arthur by the hand and led him through the shop to their small bathroom.

They didn’t open the shop up that day, it was a Thursday and business was usually slow then anyway. Arthur played more piano, for once allowing Merlin to sing along no matter how dreadful it was, and then began to try and teach Merlin how to play too between kisses.

~*~

Life continued much the same, until nearly a year had passed since Merlin and Arthur’s trip to Austria. They’d had a peaceful day of business, and had closed up early with the plan of going out for dinner later in the evening.

But at nearly 6 o’clock, a knock came on the door of the shop. It was curious; when the shop was closed people would just walk on by, knowing that Merlin had his reasons. Merlin told Arthur this, as he headed to the door and opened the latch, allowing a tall raven haired lady into the shop.

“Arthur?” The lady questioned, “Is Arthur still here?”

“Morgana?” Came Arthur’s response a second later, as he moved through the shop towards the door. “Morgana, what are you doing here?”

“More to the point, Arthur, look at you! You look fantastic!” It was true. Since he had been there Arthur had lost all the additional weight he had put on at the expensive dining experiences Uther used to organise for him and had become gorgeously tanned in his walks around town. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look so…”

“Happy?” Arthur supplied with a grin, his eyes darting to Merlin as he said it, “I guess things have changed.”

“You must be Merlin then?” Morgana said, turning to Merlin who had begun to feel a bit lost on the side, “I need to thank you for putting up with my brother.”

“Oh! Morgana… I remember now!” Merlin said with delight, “So nice to finally meet you. But no, it hasn’t been a problem, Arthur’s been wonderful and  really helpful…”

But he trailed off as Morgana smirked at him, “Oh Arthur I see what you’ve done. Captured the poor boys heart. I’d run while you still can, Merlin, Pendragon men are difficult to say the least. Speaking of which I should probably get down to what I came for. Is there anywhere we can sit?”

“Er… yeah come through, there are some stools around the counter.”

Arthur and Merlin followed as Morgana sashayed through the shop, and Merlin tried not to wince as Morgana knocked every single flower she possibly could on the way, even knocking the flowers off a poppy and causing Merlin to squeal, but he didn’t say anything.

They sat themselves down around the counter, Merlin and Arthur one side and Morgana on the other.

“I’m going to get straight to the point, Arthur,” Morgana said, “Your father has had a contract drawn up about your movements and current position. The arts world is devastated to think that they have lost you forever, so Uther has come up with some arrangements so you’ll appear yearly when necessary but can maintain your happy life out here in relative peace.”

Arthur’s heart sank. He’d watched Merlin as Morgana made her speech, and saw how Merlin’s face fell at the sound of a ‘contract’ and ‘some arrangements’ and then even further at ‘relative peace’. He knew that Merlin’s life had always been quiet and simple, yes there had been some difficult moment’s money wise but Merlin had always got by, just bumbling through life to create as little disruption as possible. Now Arthur had come along and changed it all.

“Uther wants you to play at one or two major concerts each year, depending on what concerts are happening and which you need to be seen at, and he requires one album to be made every two years.”

“And how many trips back and forth to London will that mean?” Arthur ground out, staring directly at Morgana, “How often will I have to be away from here… from my home?”

He heard Merlin softly gasp as he said this, and he turned to smile at him, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s true. This is my home, Morgana. These past months have given me something to actually live for, for once in my life. I’ve got plans now, Morgana. Me and Merlin were discussing it last night, I was thinking maybe I could start teaching music to some of the village kids, possibly buy us a house just round the corner so we don’t have to be cramped upstairs all the time, just… Camelot has become my world. I’m done with music as a performer.”

“You’re not going to sign?” Morgana sighed, “I feared this would happen. Look, we could try and change some of the details but Uther is not going to let this go. For one thing, he is now looking terrible because he has no explanation  to give anyone as to where you have gone and you know his ego is the only thing, besides you, that keeps him going in life. And a contract puts him back in control again. He misses you, Arthur, more than he lets on but everyone can see that he does. You were his world and then you vanish into thin air, at least this way he guarantees seeing you at least some points in a year.”

“But why should that mean me doing something I no longer care about?” Arthur raged, his fist clenched on his legs, “How can he not understand that I don’t _want_ this anymore. I’ve been gone a year, Morgana, if I’d have wanted to come back I would have done already. I’m happy _here_. I don’t need all of that stuff anymore, that life made me…”

“Horrible.” Merlin interrupted, speaking for the first time since Morgana had arrived, “You were horrible when you first arrived, Arthur. It was as if it had become natural instinct for you to be an utter bastard. Didn’t take long to get you to change, but I don’t want you going back there again.”

Morgana sighed, “Look, I am loving this whole new Arthur thing with the romance and stuff you have going on, it’s sweet and only slightly disturbing, but I am not loving having Uther on my back twenty four seven to get you back. I even tried reasoning with him, and you know how much of a disaster that would have been,” she raised her eyebrows at Arthur, “And he won’t listen to a word of it.”

There were a few moments of cold, uneasy silence. Merlin and Morgana watched Arthur with bated breath, both hoping for a different outcome.

“Morgana,” Arthur said after a minute, “Come out to dinner with Merlin and I?”

“But we don’t…” Merlin started, his mind flashing wildly to every corner of the village to think of finding somewhere suitable for Morgana who surely was used to five star cuisine every day of the week.

“I would love to.” Morgana said with a soft smile, “I take it that means you’re thinking about it?” and when Arthur didn’t reply she said, “Alright dinner it is! Where are we going then?”

It seemed that Merlin had underestimated Morgana. Together they walked down the road to the pizzeria, and she seemed delighted by the place despite it not being gormet cuisine. It was only when Morgana popped to the loo that Arthur told him the reason,

“You get kind of sick of all that food. We went to Italy a few years ago and I swear she did not stop eating the whole time we were there. Stupid posh restaurant portions fill you for five minutes then you need something else in an attempt to make you buy more. I thought coming here would sweeten her up a little bit.”

“Sweeten her?”

“I’m going to make her a proposition, I think, Merlin. One or two concerts a year won’t be too bad, surely? I’d be away for a week max but still have time to see my father. I can even start using it, say offering school trips and things to some of the concerts and that’ll help with my job application.”

“And the album? By the sounds of things your father won’t be twisted.”

“No, Morgana underestimates him. He always barters above what he expects to achieve, does the opposite of every other business man. People hate to decline a contract, but they like to make bargains. An album every two years is a lot for a normal performer, he knows that. I’m hoping I can either stop the whole album thing completely, or at least lengthen the time in which I have to make it.”

“That would still mean you have to leave here, Arthur!”

“I know, Merlin, but what else am I meant to do?”

Merlin stopped, a frown appearing on his face, “You could say no.” He said quietly, “All this talk is changing you back again, Arthur, can’t you see that? It’s like your father flicks a switch inside you that turns you into full out bastard of the year.”

“How can I say no!?” Arthur shouted, his voice scaring all the other customers into silence, “Sorry.” He mumbled a second later as Morgana reappeared and raised her terrifying right eyebrow at him.

“Maybe we should talk about this all again in the morning?” Morgana suggested quietly, placing a comforting hand on Arthur’s shoulder, “We all need time to think about this. Merlin,” she said turning to him, “Is there any way I can stay with you tonight? I couldn’t find a B and B that wasn’t already full.”

Merlin glanced at Arthur who was now staring absently into space, “Yeah, sure. I’ll change the sheets on Arthur’s bed when we get back and he can sleep in my bed with me.”

“No funny business though?” Morgana asked sceptically, “There are things I don’t want to hear…”

“I don’t think that’ll be happening tonight, Morgana.” Merlin said softly, picking up Arthur’s coat from where he had left it on the back of his chair as he had walked out.

Arthur was standing leaning against the wall outside the pizzeria. His hands were stuffed deep into his pockets and he was staring at the ground as if it held all the answers in the world to it. Looping his arm through the gap left between Arthur’s side and his arms, Merlin guided him home.

 Morgana walked a few paces behind them, watching the way they were with each other, and slowly beginning to understand why Arthur couldn’t go back to the way things were before not even a little bit. As she watched, Arthur’s shoulders began to drop from where they had been scrunched up in frustration, whatever Merlin was saying soothing him until he had nearly completely relaxed.

When they reached the Flowerpatch, Merlin quickly remade the bed in the spare room, then they said goodnight and went their separate ways.

Arthur and Merlin talked for hours. Every aspect of the deal was worked through inch by inch, every possible alternative and solution talked out, until finally Arthur felt like he knew exactly what he was going to do.

Next morning went pretty smoothly. It seemed that overnight even Morgana had realised how ludicrous the whole thing had sounded.

“I’m not doing any of it, Morgana.” Arthur said, “I’m going to apply for a teaching role at the local school and get the job off my own back. I’ve had some good times with music, but I’ve also seen the bad, and I want to give the children of Camelot the chance to experience the good without the bad.”

“Good on you, Arthur.” Morgana replied, “Uther was mad to think he could get away with anything like this.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true, ‘Gana. I probably would have done it, if Merlin hadn’t been here.”

Merlin blushed right to the tips of his ears and began to stammer out half-hearted denials of any involvement but Morgana just laughed at him and stopped all of it.

“Now that I don’t think I can deny.” She said with a smile, “I will be coming to visit more often though, Arthur.”

“As long as you are kinder to the flowers next time, I’m sure that’ll be fine. Won’t it, Merlin?”

“Absolutely!” Merlin said, “And thanks for not pushing any of this, I get it must have been hard for you to have Uther in your ear the whole time Arthur’s been away.”

“Yeah well, I’d do anything for Arthur. Including going home now and delievering the news. I would love to stay and have a look around but for now I really must go.” She pulled Arthur into a hug and whispered into his ear, “Keep hold of that one, Artie, he’s a good one.”

“Thanks, ‘Gana,” he whispered back, “You come back and visit as often as you want.”

Morgana was on her way in a matter of minutes. Arthur and Merlin waved her off at the edge of the village then headed back to the Flowerpatch.

Arthur spent the next few days either doing research into music teaching or having interviews at the local school. Ever since they had come up with the plan he had been determined to see it through, especially since he now had no way back to the professional music industry.

It was the first warm day of April when Arthur burst through the door of the Flowerpatch, letter in hand shouting,

“The primary school have taken me on, Merlin!” grabbing Merlin from behind and kissing his cheek. “Said they need a music teacher and even though I have very few qualifications teaching wise, they said my experience as a musician would be enough and I could learn to teach on the job!”

“Brilliant!” Merlin said, turning himself round in Arthur’s arms so he could press a kiss soundly on his lips. “How about we go upstairs and celebrate?”

Arthur nuzzled into Merlin’s neck, agreeing with a soft sigh but before they could go anywhere, Elena appeared.

“Get a room you two!” Elena laughed as she walked through the door, her arms full of food from the bakery down the road. “Or better still, get your arses over here and help me with this. We’re closing up early for the day and going on a picnic, it’s the first day of nice weather we’ve had in months.”

Merlin and Arthur pulled apart, Arthur whispering a quick “Later, I promise.” to Merlin before pulling himself away to reach out and help Elena.

Together the four of them walked down the winding road to the empty field that greeted all the visitors who approached their little town.

“God, I haven’t been this far out of the village since Morgana left. It was only a week or so ago but it feels like a lifetime. And then before that I hadn’t been out here at all since I’d arrived.” Arthur said as Merlin and Elena laid out the red and white checked blanket for them all to sit on.

“This place does seem to have that effect on people.” Mithian replied with a smirk, “I was only passing through now look where I am!”

“I made the right choice, though, Mithian, didn’t I?”  Mithian elbowed him in the side and he let out a yelp. “What was that for!?”

“Of course you made the right choice, you dumbo! Oi, Merlin, your Arthur here is questioning whether he made the right choice coming here!”

“I’m trying not to be offended.” Merlin laughed, “What makes you say that anyway, Arthur?”

“I left so much behind, and I do kind of miss Morgana running around after me, even though she was a bit of a witch sometimes.”

“All sisters are.” Elena said, “Mine pulled all of my dolls’ heads off when I was four, I cried for days, then when I was fourteen and she was seventeen she planted a condom in my schoolbag so I would get in trouble with mummy. Made it easier to come out though, I guess, she did me a favour with that one.”

The three of them were briefly stunned to silence after that little tale. Arthur had realised only a few weeks before that there was always a new story to come out of Elena after she went off on a tangent about a worm and a shopping trolley. He had to shake his head hard to get _that_ particular image out of his mind.

“Yeah well,” Merlin said after a moment, “Morgana can always come and visit, and anyway, you have us as a family now. But I’m not going to do that much running after you, you know.”

“And families are allowed to steal each other’s suitcases!” Elena said with a grin, “God, think what would have happened if Merlin hadn’t fallen asleep on that airplane.”

“More like what wouldn’t have happened.” Mithian corrected, snatching the last strawberry right from underneath Elena’s hand then proceeding to eat it in the most seductive way possible.

“I’m glad I was a dunce. I mean, I wouldn’t have had Arthur if I hadn’t have been.”

“Correction, Merlin, you are still a dunce, that was just one of your finer moments.” Arthur said poking his tongue out at Merlin, then peeling the wrapper away from the strawberry tart and placing it into Merlin’s mouth before he could respond, “But I love you all the more for it.” He finished, licking the sugar off Merlin’s nose. “I love you very much, my suitcase stealing clotpole.”

~*~

It became Arthur’s turn to take another, smaller world by storm. He soon became one of the most loved teachers at Camelot Primary School, always showing the kids something new and teaching them how to love music not just how to play music.

It wasn’t too long before Merlin and Arthur purchased a small cottage round the corner from the Flowerpatch so Arthur could teach private lessons in there, and to give them space to have visitors whenever they wanted.

Arthur would never admit to Morgana that she had made the right decision sending him out and away from the limelight. There were times when he did miss playing for a rich and adoring crowd, but then he’d head into school and the children would be there, ready to sing and play with him, not just criticise him.

The Flowerpatch, too, was flourishing, even if Merlin had lost his delivery boy. His mother came to his now (which saved Merlin anymore trouble with cases and flights) and she was absolutely delighted to meet Arthur.

“You’re a charming boy, Arthur! My Merlin is very lucky to have found you.” She said to him the first time they met, a year after Arthur got the job as a music teacher, “See, Merlin, I told you being a scatterbrain would save you one day.”

It was the very same day that Arthur pulled Hunith aside and asked, “How would you feel if I possibly maybe might ask Merlin to marry… me?” he stuttered, blushing a deep shade of beetroot.

“Oh goodness…” Hunith said, before throwing her head back and laughing with glee, “You don’t need my permission, Arthur! He’s not a girl and does not belong to me either. But if it means that much to you, I would love you to marry Merlin, you need each other.”

Hunith retired to bed early that night, still tired after the flight from Austria. She left Merlin and Arthur curled up on the sofa, trying not to smile too much at the sight of a small box Arthur had tucked underneath the cushions.

“Merlin?” Arthur said quietly a few minutes later.

“Hmm…” Merlin hummed in response, sitting up to look at Arthur. “What’s the matter?” he said after a second when Arthur didn’t reply.

“Oh right, yes, er… sorry.” Merlin watched as Arthur scrambled around behind him for a second, then pulling out a box, opening it to reveal two beautiful leather bracelets. “Merlin…” he started again, suddenly feeling very foolish, “I… er… this is actually rather hard, to be honest, I’m not usually one to talk about my feelings so… look, Merlin, I love you more than anything in the world. And I know I was a bit of a prat when we first met, and then continued to be a prat for quite a while afterwards, but I really do love you so much. And I just wondered whether you’d consider… marrying me?” he said quietly, “I thought a ring was a bad idea,” he continued babbling as Merlin remained silent, “I mean you’re not a girl are you? And I thought – well Morgana thought actually, but you didn’t need to know that…” and he was cut off by the press of Merlin’s lips on his own.

“Yes.” Merlin said simply when he pulled back, “Yes of course I will marry you.” And they both slipped the bands onto each other’s wrist.

They got married the following summer, with Mithian, Elena and Morgana taking over the whole load of planning. Even Uther showed up to the ceremony, hugging his son for the first time in many years because he finally could see how good the whole situation had been for the both of them, even if he didn’t get what he wanted.

And as they said “I do” Merlin thanked his lucky stars (and his unlucky stars too, for without them he’d never have got those bloomin’ suitcases muddled!) for sending him Arthur, who at that very moment was staring at Merlin like he wanted to eat him – which could only end very nicely for Merlin later on that night, and for many years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
